ALABAMA. 



agitation this year in the State. Congress 

 granted 25,000 acres of unoccupied Government 

 lands to be sold or leased for the benefit of the 

 Industrial School for Girls, at Montevallo ; the 

 proceeds of sale were to remain forever as a 

 fund for the use of the school. A like amount 

 of land was granted to the Normal Institute for 

 Colored Youths, at Tuskegee. The Montevallo 

 lands, according to the reports, were located, or 

 were intended to be located, in the coal districts 

 near Warrior river, and were summarily bar- 

 gained away, or an option was given, to a syn- 

 dicate already holding lands in the region, at 

 $5 an acre, a price alleged to be much below 

 their value, and, as it appears, no opportunity 

 was given for other bids, but the sale as al- 

 leged was a private transaction between the rep- 

 resentative of the syndicate and the Governor, 

 to whom the board of managers of the school 

 had given authority to dispose of the lands. 



The lands given to the Tuskegee school have 

 not been sold. 



About 3,400 acres of lands belonging to the 

 State University were sold in the autumn at 

 $12.50 an acre. They are coal lands in Walker 

 County, and are alleged to be worth much more. 



Lawlessness. An attempt to capture a ne- 

 gro alleged to be guilty of assault in Jefferson 

 County resulted in a riot between white and 

 black miners on June 27, in which two negroes 

 were killed and two others mortally wounded. 

 The blacks were said to belong to a secret or- 

 ganization known as the "Knights of Africa," 

 or the " Mysterious Ten." Several cases of lynch- 

 ing occurred during the year: a negro suspected 

 of burning a barn was hanged by lynchers at 

 Josie Beat in January; another, identified as the 

 accomplice of a murderer, was shot by a mob 

 near Eoline in June; near Forrest, in August, 

 a mob hanged a negro who had attempted an 

 assault upon a young white girl; two negroes 

 who with others attacked a white man with 

 whom they had quarreled about a debt they owed 

 him were killed by a mob of masked men, Aug. 

 19, near Eclectic; and a negro was hanged for 

 attempted assault on a white woman, in Novem- 

 ber, near Moulton, after being taken from jail 

 by a mob of about 100 men. 



Legislative Session. The General Assembly 

 convened Nov. 15, 1898, and adjourned Feb. 23, 

 1899. R. M. Cunningham was President of the 

 Senate and C. E. Waller Speaker of the House. 



A bill calling for an election on the question 

 of a constitutional convention was the occasion 

 of hot debate. The new Constitution desired 

 by those in favor of the bill is like those recently 

 adopted by other Southern States, designed to 

 establish "white supremacy," as appears from 

 the debate, from which the following passage is 

 taken : " I believe," said Mr. Waller, Speaker of 

 the House, " that this day is destined to be the 

 most glorious in the history of Alabama. It 

 means salvation and rescue from a system that 

 has undermined and corrupted the integrity and 

 honesty of the State. I would rather that my 

 little prattling boys lay in their graves than that 

 I should hand down to them the taint of the 

 Constitution under which we are living. 'Let 

 these gentlemen who oppose this bill come to 

 me and measure in dollars the cost of purity. I 

 disagree with these gentlemen as to their esti- 

 mates of the cost of a convention. I feel that it 

 would not cost more that $25,000 or $30,000. 

 But if it were to cost five times the amount they 

 estimate the necessary money could be raised 

 from voluntary subscriptions. The taxes I pay 

 now are a burden to me, but cheerfully would I 



increase them tenfold if by doing so I could ma- 

 terially aid in getting for our State a new and 

 honest Constitution. I defy any of these gentle- 

 men to come to me and measure in dollars the 

 purity of their sons. It has been intimated that 

 a new constitution would jeopardize the suf- 

 frages of white men. I say this: If any crowd 

 of men engage in a conspiracy to disfranchise 

 a single poor white man I stand ready to join 

 a body of men to lynch the culprits. It has never 

 been purposed by the friends of a constitutional 

 convention in Alabama to disfranchise a solitary 

 white man." 



"How will you keep from doing it?" Mr. 

 Spears asked, interrupting. 



" We will put it on the broad ground of patri- 

 otism," Mr. Waller answered. " I am sorry that 

 such a question should be asked at this time. 

 I am sorry that faithful Democrats should so em- 

 barrass our plans \t this juncture as to make 

 and evoke speeches that may be used against us 

 by our enemies. But we will provide for the 

 suffrage of those who have fought for their coun- 

 try or their relatives within the fifth degree 

 of kin." 



Mr. Arrington followed. He favored white su- 

 premacy. In Mississippi less than one fifteenth 

 of the illiterate white men were disfranchised by 

 the new Constitution. " There is no telling what 

 future awaits us if we continue in the present 

 manner," he said. " The throes from which 

 North Carolina has just subsided should teach 

 us a lesson. I say to you that we may expect 

 as bad or worse if we do not act without delay. 

 Why, just before I left home to come here a 

 negro named Armstrong came to me and said 

 he had been offered the postmastership at his 

 town. He asked for advice. I told him that as 

 surely as the sun shone he would be shot to 

 death within twenty-four hours after he made 

 his bond as postmaster. He took my advice and 

 decided not to get the postmastership." 



The bill was passed by 52 to 41 in the House 

 and 17 to 12 in the Senate. It fixed the time for 

 the election the first Monday in. July, 1899, and 

 delegates were to be chosen at the same time. 

 The bill was signed by the Governor. 



An act abolishing the Court of County Com- 

 missioners of Jefferson County and creating a 

 revenue board to take its place, was brought 

 before the Supreme Court for a test as to its 

 constitutionality. It was passed through the 

 Senate when a bare quorum was present; and, 

 as one of the Senators voting was lieutenant 

 colonel of the Fifth Regiment of immunes, it was 

 claimed that he could not legally hold a seat 

 in the Legislature. 



A new revenue law imposes taxes on many 

 kinds of business not heretofore taxed, and 

 amends the provisions in regard to others. 

 Among the new subjects coming under the law 

 are billposters, brokers, bicycles, book agents, 

 cigar stands, cold storage, dog or pony shows, 

 cotton buyers, coal and coke, feather -renovators, 

 dealers in securities, ferries and toll bridges, fruit 

 stands, horse dealers, ice factories, laundries, slot 

 machines, news companies, sellers of patent 

 rights, photographers, plumbers, dealers in stocks 

 and bonds, telephone companies, and warehouse 

 and elevator companies. 



The House passed a bill increasing the appro- 

 priation for public schools from $350,000 to $600,- 

 000; but the State Auditor published figures to 

 show that this would involve the State in a debt 

 of about $150,000, and the amount was reduced 

 to $450,000. Other increases in appropriations 

 were: For salary of a supernumerary judge, 



